Drivers license suspensions for unpaid traffic fines is an issue that affects millions of Americans across the country. An Oregon law that went into effect in 2020 halted the practice of automatically suspending driver’s licenses for people who failed to pay traffic fines on time. But the law wasn’t retroactive, so thousands of Oregonians are without licenses for exactly that reason. Last year, then-governor Kate brown made it possible for about 8,000 people to get their licenses back.
Last week, Gov. Tina Kotek expanded that list to include 10,000 more Oregonians. We listen back to our 2021 conversations with Kelsey Heilman, a staff attorney with the Oregon Law Center’s Portland regional office and Tracy Chavez, a grandmother with court debt living in Bend.